Obama’s Cybersecurity Plan Would Burden Industry, Lawmaker Says

By Kelly Riddell -
May 25, 2011

An Obama administration proposal for
bolstering the nation’s defenses against a cyber attack would
give the Homeland Security Department too much power over
private industry, a U.S. lawmaker said today.

“The president’s plan gives the Department of Homeland
Security unfettered authority to regulate private industry,”
Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and chairman of a House
Judiciary Committee panel on the Internet, said today at a
hearing on cybersecurity. “Do the American people really want
their regulatory agencies turned into quasi-fiefdoms?”

The administration’s proposal released May 12 calls for
Homeland Security to work with industry to find vulnerabilities
in critical infrastructure such as electrical grids and
financial networks. The department would define what companies
would qualify as “critical infrastructure” and therefore be
subject to more oversight.

“The regulatory process is a slow one, whereas the
escalating cyber threats our country faces are extremely dynamic
problems,” Goodlatte said. “Cybersecurity threats and online
technologies change quickly -- so quickly that any regulations
for cybersecurity could be outdated before they are finalized.”

Congress needs to create incentives for the private sector
to do more to protect itself from cyber attacks, Goodlatte said.
He’s currently writing legislation to address his concerns.

U.S. lawmakers introduced about 50 cybersecurity measures
in the last session of Congress. Those measures include at least
eight bills that seek to boost security at energy and utility
companies.

The administration’s proposal would jump-start efforts in
Congress to update U.S. laws in response to the increased threat
of cyber attacks capable of crippling business and government
operations.

The urgency of advancing a cybersecurity bill has been
heightened by recent assaults, including last month’s attack on
networks operated by Sony Corp. (6758) The Senate’s Sergeant at Arms
reported last year that computer systems of Congress and
executive branch agencies are probed or attacked 1.8 billion
times per month, costing about $8 billion annually.